Shoe manufacture



Jan 2, 19 0- D. l. HASKELL SHOE MANUFACTURE Filed Dec. 21, 19.37

igil- Chicane A Patented Jamzlm g v UNITED STATES PATENT "OFFICE D..ZTZ..ZTTI3JI3;.... Application No. 181,04? I The present invention relates generally to shoes The innersole of the present invention is shown and is more particularly directed to an innersole in Figs. 1 and 2 in the condition in which it'is which is so designed and constructed that the delivered to the lasting machine. It comprises a shoe is rendered flexible, thereby substantially toe portion 20 which may be made of any suit- 5 eliminating the discomfort occasioned during the able material and in accordance with common 5 period of breaking in new shoes by the wearer. practice it may, if desired, be madeof rather The invention also relates to the method of manu I stifl fibrous material. Immediately adjacent this facturing such. insoles and to the method of portion 20 is a relatively narrow. strip 2| of a manufacturing shoes embodying such insoles. material having the property of expanding and More particularly, the present invention relates contracting and for this purpose in the preferred 10 to the same subject matter as that disclosed in embodiment of the invention such material may my copending application Serial No. 175,717 and comprise a rubber fabric or afabric'having rubrelates to the type of innersole disclosed and ber strands or yarns or it may be any other suitclaimed in said application and to improved methable material to which the quality of expansiods of manufacturing such innersoles and shoes bility and contractibilityis imparted by suitable l5 embodying such innersoles. treatment such as by crinklingor by corrugat- The innersole to which the present application ing the same. The remainder of. the innersole as well as the above mentioned copending apcomprises the ball portion 22, the shank/23, and plication relates is so constructed and so built into the heel 24, and these may be made of any suitthe completed shoe that it assists in the flexing able material that is customarily employed in the V20 of the shoe. This is accomplished by embodying manufacture of innersoles. I find that in'innerin the innersole a transverse portion of expansible soles embodying the present invention the mateand contractible material, the material being rial of which the ball portion 22 is manufactured built into the shoe in its expanded states In the may-be of rather stiff materials as compared with a preferred form of the invention this materialmaterials which had been hitherto employed in 25 comprises rubber strands or yarns which render the ball portions of innersoles and still the comit expansible and contractible or elastic in the pleted shoe embodying my invention has a degree desired direction. The same quality may also of flexibility much higher than that obtained by be obtained from other materials or by the suitthe use of the older flexible materials. In the go able treatment of suitable materials such as by innersole shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the strip 2| is crinkling or corrugating suitable materials. in its stretched and expanded condition and is One of the objects of the present invention is held in this condition by the stiffening member to provide an innersole of the type described here- II which is held attached to the portions 20 and in and in the above mentioned copendlng ap- 22 by staples l8 and I9 or other suitable attachplication, the innersole being so constructed that log means which may be readily removed. 35 it has the same length as the last bottom and From what has been said earlier in the present the lasting operation is, therefore, substantially specification, it will now be understood that the simplified. For this purpose the innersole is present innersole is applied to the last bottom stretched during its manufacture and is proin the customary way such as by tacks or the 40 vided with one or more strips of relatively still like; and this operation is followed by the cus- 40 material which bridge the' elastic material and tomary operations in the manufacture of a shoe hold the same in stretched or expanded condisuch asby the lasting of the upper and the like. tion until the lasting of the innersole is 'com- At any suitable point in the manufacture of the pleted at which time the operator removes these shoe, the attaching devices I8 and IQ of the stiffstrips. ening strip H are removed. The innersole is 45 In the drawing: 1 applied to the last bottom so that the stiffening Fig. 1 is a plan view of the innersole embodystrip is exposed to view. ing the present invention; In the manufacture of the present innersole Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; a composite sheet III is, prepared which comprises Fig. 3 is a plan view of a'composite'sheet eman intermediate strip. ll of expansible and vcon- 50 ployed in the manufacture of the present-inner-, tractible material, such as rubber fabric, or a sole; and fabric having rubber strands, or any other suit- Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same sheet in its able material which has the desired expansibility stretched condition and bearing the stiffening and contractibllity" such as a suitably crinkled strips. or corrugated material. The band I! is relatively 55 narrow and is attached to one edgeof the strip 'ployed in the manufacture of innersoles.

ll, whereas the band B is relatively wide and is attached to the other edge of the strip II. The bands I! and [3 may be made of any suitable material which has hitherto been, commonly em- Thus,

where it is desired to have a rather stiff toe portion, the band l2 may be made of rather rigid or stiff material. The band l3 includes the ball portion H, the shank l5, and heel l6, and has at least for the ball portion It a suitable relatively flexible innersole material, whereas, the remaining portions I5 and I6 may be of the same material as the ball portion I4 or; v may be of other die cut by'a suitable die which, however, is so 1 shaped and designed that it is somewhat-shorter in length than the length of the finished insole. After the insoles are thus out, they are each stretched to the desired length and a strip I1 of relatively stiif material is attached to one face of the forepart of the insole by means of a pair of staples I8 and H! as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The insole thus obtained is now employed in the lasting of a shoe irrthe customary manner in that it is tacked to the bottom of the last and the manufacture of the shoe is then proceeded with in the customary way; I, The strip IItogether with the staples l8 and IS are, however, removed from the insole at any convenient stage in the operations and after the insole has been tacked and lasted onto the last. i

In another method of manufacture of the present insole, the entire composite sheet I is subjected to transverse .stretching so that the expansible strip ll therein is slightly stretched to the extent desired, and while this sheet is maintained in this stretched or tensioned condition a plurality of stiffening strips H are applied thereto by staples l8 and I9 as shown, or by any other temporary holding means, thus retaining the strip II in its transversely stretched condition. The stiffening strips I! should be so spaced that when a plurality of insoles are die cut from the sheet, each insole should contain'at least one such stiffener so that the stretchedor,expanded exholding said portion against contracting.

a removable stiflening strip attached to the innersole and bridging said stretched portion.

5. An innersole having in the zone between the ball and toe portions a stretched band of elastic material and removable means holding said band against contraction.

6. The method of making slices which comprises providing an innersole having in a zone, which is to be flexed in the act of walking, across the full width and thickness thereof, a stretched contractible portion, the portion having stored energy for contracting the insole, the insole also having removable means holding the same against contraction, tacking said innersole on a last bottom, and thereafter removing said means.

7. The method of making shoes which comprises providing an innersole having a stretched elastic portion in its forepart with a stiifening strip holding the same against contraction, tacking said innersole on a last bottom, and thereafter removing said strip.

8. The method of making shoes which comprises providing an innersole having in its forepart a stretched portion drawing adjacent parts to each other with means holding said parts against suchmovement, tacking said innersole on a last 'bottom and removing said holding means. l

9. That improvement in methods of preparing an unattached insole for incorporation in a shoe which consists in providing the insole in a zone, which is'to be flexed in the act of walking, with an expansible contractible' portion capable when stretched of exerting a contractile force, stretching the said portion throughout the full width of the insole in a direction lengthwise of the insole, thus storing energy therein available when unrestrained to contract the-insole and attaching to said insole readily removable meansbridging said portion and restraining the insoleagainst contraction.

10. The method of forming a plurality of insoles which comprises associating a strip of transversely resilient material with a pair of bands of innersole material attached one to each edge thereof, thereby forming a sheet having. a width of at' least the length of the insole and having a length of the combined width of a plurality of insoles, stretching said sheet widthwise and rendering it self contractible when unrestrained, attaching to said sheet a plurality of spaced substantially rigid tabs bridging the stretched strip,

said tabs. beingspaced.'approximately'the width .of aninsole', and cutting-the insoles from said sheet transversely thereof.-

11; The method of forming a plurality of insoles which comprises associating a strip of transversely resilient material with a pair of bands of innersole material attached one to each edge thereof, thereby forming a sheet having a width of at leastthe length of the insole and having a length of the combined width of a plurality of insoles, stretching said sheet widthwise and rendering it self contractible when unrestrained, attaching to said sheet a plurality of spaced substantially rigid tabs bridging the stretched strip.

and cutting the insoles from said sheet transversely thereof.

12 The method of forming a plurality of insoles which comprises associating a strip of transversely resilient material with a pair of bands of suitable material attached one to each edge thereof, thereby forming a sheet having a width of at least thelength of the insole and having a length of the combined width-of a plurality of insoles, stretching said sheet widthwise and rendering itself contractible when unrestrained, attaching to said sheet means bridging the stretched strip and holding the same against contraction, and cutting the insoles from said sheet transversely thereof.

13. Blanks for forming a plurality of insoles consisting of an elongated sheet of a width at least the length of an insole having a toe zone, a ball zone, and a zone intermediate said toe and ball zones, the intermediate zone being of expansible contractible material, said material being in. a transversely expanded condition, and tabs of substantially rigid material attached to said sheet and bridging said expanded zone for maintaining the same in its expanded condition.

14. The method of making innersoles comprising making an innersole with a strip of elastic material in its forepart, the length of said innersole being shorter than the length of the last, stretching said innersole to its desired length and attaching a relatively rigid tab to said innersole bridging the elastic portion to hold the same in its stretched condition.

15. Blanks for forming a plurality of insoles consisting of an elongated sheet of width at least the length of the insole, said sheet having a toe zone, a ball zone, and a relatively narrow intermediate zone of elastic material, said intermediate zone being stretched widthwise of the sheet and removable means carried by said sheet maintaining said intermediate zone in its stretched condition.

16. That improvement in the methods of preparing an unattached insole for incorporation in a shoe which consists in providing insole mater ial in a zone, which is to be fixed in the act of walking, with an elastic portion capable when stretched of exerting a contractile force, stretching the said portion thus storing energy therein available when unrestrained tocontract the insole material, and attaching thereto removable means restraining the elastic portion against contraction.

17: The method of making shoes comprising the steps of supplying an innersole having, in the zone between the tip and the widest part of the forepart, portions having relative longitudinal movement, another portion interposed between such relatively movable portions, said innersole carrying temporary means affixed to said forepart for preventing such relative movement, the free outer edges of such adjacent portions being in alignment, mounting said innersole on a last and attaching it in position, and removing the said temporary means.

18. An innersole having a substantially continuous marginal portion for attachment to the marginal portion of an upper, the forepart having portions capable of relative movement longitudinally of the innersole, another portion interposed between such relatively movable portions, the free outer edges of such adjacent portions being in alignment, and readily removable means attached to said forepart and bridging the space between said portions for preventing such relative movement of said portions during the making of a shoe incorporating the innersole.

DAVID I. HASKEIL. 

